Between Keys and Flames
by Squeeezy
Summary: A fight between best friends can really separate them or will their bond return even stronger than it has ever been? A chain of mistakes can turn everything into a chain of emotions? NaxLu pairing (high chance of other pairings) and take care with spoilers that may appear. Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL. Rating may change in the future.
1. Warm Night

After returning from a mission with Natsu and the gang, Lucy can finally rest at her house after such an exhausting mission while taking a long bath in a comforting hot tube -or so she thought, but right after she got into her room there was half-naked man getting off of the celestial magician's bathroom.

"Yo Lucy. What took you so long? By the way, your bath is the best after all, it looks like all the fatigue was washed away." the pink hair mage was grinning with one towel over his shoulders and another one at his lower region.

"Hey, Natsu! What are you doing half-naked in my house? Before that ... How did you get here before me and how did even you get in?" the blond asked with some veins popping on her forehead.

"I was heading home when your landlord saw me then she gave me the key and smiled. It was you who told her to do so, right? But man, you should take a bath too Lucy. I already filled the bath tube so you should go in." the pink-haired guy replied with a straight face.

'So this is what she meant by Your boyfriend just came and is waiting for you ... how can she mistake him as something to that extend?' Lucy thought with herself while Natsu sat at the bed while staring at her and in the moment that she noticed it "Hey! Don't go sitting on others bed like it's normal" she yelled at him.

"Why are you making such a fuss over something like this? It never bothered you before." Natsu said with a puzzled-face.

"Anyways, I'll take my shower so just leave already, i want to have a good sleep tonight. Our last mission took everything of me just to stay awake for 2 whole days" Lucy turned her back at her friend to prepare to take her bath and stopped at the door looking at Natsu that was with his night trunks on and beginning to wear his usual pants.

"Before leaving on a mission I bought some food and let it in the refrigerator, why don't you eat? I don't want to throw all this food, it would be a waste." she entered and closed the door after one more glance at her partner now with his pants and scarf on. "Don't forget to make my portion too!" the stellar mage smiled at the response of her friend that was half yawning and half actually replying her.

* * *

During the bath Lucy was still lost in thought with what the landlord told Natsu when she saw him. 'How in the world could she give him my room's key, even though he comes rather often it isn't enough to give him the keys. Now that I think about it, lately he comes more often than he used to.' the woman let a small smile escape unnoticed into her face as if she something good happened.

"Huhuhu, could it be that he is feeling lonely?" Lucy said in a low voice to herself before immersing herself in the tub and letting her thoughts take over once again.

After a while underwater Lucy suddenly stood up in the tub with a shocked expression as if she just discovered a horrible secret or something worse after the memories of what Natsu just said before she went to the bathroom and connecting with what the landlord told him.

'Sitting in my bed so casually ... being mistaken as my boyfriend ... coming alone rather oftenly ... only he and me alone, just the two of us, in my room for hours ... isn't this what people call to date someone? Im-impossible, just impossible.' little thoughts started to pop on her mind

"I'm just over-thinking it since the other person in question here is Natsu." Lucy told herself to make her spirit higher but worsening her self-awareness of her current situation.

Getting out from a long bath that did relieve her body but worsening her fatigue ... mentally. Lucy left wrapped with a towel around her body and another one on her head and for her surprise there was a pink-haired half-naked Natsu sleeping on her bed.

'What's the point of wearing all your clothes if you end up taking it all off and sleeping here instead of going home?'

Putting on an angry look she came close to him "Hey, Natsu! Wake up already! I told you to leave after eating, didn't i?!" Lucy said while poking and shaking her friend in attemp to wake him up which was of no use and she knew that once he was stuffed and his friends were safe nothing would wake him up.

"You'd better have made something good or else I'm throwing you at the street!" the stellar mage said while picking some clothes and heading to the kitchen.

After changing into her pajamas -a normal top a little bit bigger than her usual clothes and a mini shorts- and having dinner she headed towards her bed "Geez, if you were going to sleep here anyways you should at least sleep at the floor or at the couch like a normal guest should and specially today that I wanted a good night of sleep after all the commotion you guys caused." Lucy said while looking at Natsu's sleeping face.

'He is actually kinda cute when his sleeping ...' a little shock ran her spine 'It's all that fatty landlord's fault ... giving unnecessary and stupid opinions.'

"Hey, Natsu. At least make some space or else I can't get into my own bed." Lucy somehow managed to create some space for her closer to the wall by pulling Natsu closer to the edge of the bed. "Frankly, I know that you are tired but giving trouble for others that are as tired as you is to much."

Lucy crawled over the man's body and fell asleep almost instantaneously if it wasn't for the heat.

'Who would need a blanket when is laying next to a natural heater.' it sure was convenient to have Natsu closer when sleeping outside during a mission but not when you were at home and even less when you were at home on your bed. But as if noticing even if unconsciously Natsu dropped his temperature so Lucy would also feel comfortable.

* * *

Small rays of light entered the room indicating it was about noon were reaching Lucy that slowly opened her eyes as if waking from a long dream and to her surprise it was one of the best nights she had ever had after joining Fairy Tail or even from before.

'Guess I'll just sleep the day away. I don't feel like going to the guild and facing all their high tension today' she was looking at the ceiling with her eyes still half closed enjoying her still sleepy and too tired to move body then shut her eyes once again.

Lucy was almost falling asleep again when a faint sound of heartbeat caught her attention. 'Wow ... I wonder why I can hear my own heartbeat since I just woke up and it wasn't even a frightening dream' still laying with her eyes closed she started to pay a little more attention to the sound.

It was strange, the heartbeat was calm but it didn't looked like hers at all. She was being lulled by the heartbeat.

A small movement under the blanket startled her, something moved on her side, it made its way from her hips to her waist line under her top and few centimeters away from her chest which made the stellar mage shut her eyes open and removed the blanket.

There it was! She panicked ... Natsu's hand was on her sides and the scene was like a morning of a couple. Lucy was sleeping with her head on Natsu's chest and he was keeping her next to him by embracing her.

Lucy turned her head up to find a face of a sleeping Natsu really close to hers making her heart skip a beat.

She tried to calm down by taking a deep breath but didn't help much when Natsu's smell invaded her ... or rather her own flagrancy since he took bath at her house but it still smelled different, anyways it didn't help a bit and the position they were in helped even less since she couldn't move freely or else she would wake Natsu up. And it wasn't like she didn't want him to wake up, it was more like ... she wasn't prepared to for him to wake up and see her all flushed and frightened under his embrace.

The stellar mage slowly crawled out of the bed and away from her partner heading towards the kitchen to calm herself and by the time she got at the kitchen it looked like all the fatigue from the previous day came all at once ... if not doubled.

"Damn stupid heart ... anyone would skip beats if awakened _there_"

* * *

A distinct aroma was floating in the air and filling the room with a warmth greeting of good morning that was invading his senses slowly waking him up. Natsu cracked one eye half open to see an image of his blond friend sitting at the couch at the side of the bed.

"Yo, good morning Lucy." He was clearly half asleep looking at her and trying to fully open his eyes ... which proved to be a harder task than he firstly thought.

"Frankly, don't go 'good morning Lucy' when you wasn't even supposed to sleep in here and you even took the bed." Lucy was drinking her coffee without changing her line of view.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu was laying on his belly with his head tilted to the side looking at Lucy. "Last night when I woke up and noticed that I was in your bed when I tried to leave you held onto me without letting go."

She spilled her coffee all over the room and a her face flushed a bright red as scenes from earlier came back along with the feeling of how comfortable was her last night.

"As-as if I would do something like that! You was dreaming about it."

"Hmm, I'm sure I wasn't sleeping since Happy woke me up during the night for us to go home and saying something about him having a fight with Charlie over his obsession with fish..." even as the man's speech continued about how his friend came asking him for help Lucy's mind stopped at the small part in the begin.

'We were seem ... We were seem ... It's okay I didn't do nor say anything wrong ... I need to find that blue cat before he say unnecessary things' Lucy was making her strange faces that tends to appear when she is troubled with something.

"Hey Lucy. Are you okay? You are making your weird faces. Is something troubling you?" seeing his friend face Natsu got closer as he spoke and his friend ignored him and lost herself deep in her thoughts and faces.

'Damn! I wanted to spend today at home just relaxing but if that blue cat tell anybody what he saw or supposedly ( I'd never say something like that ) heard.' she was brought back to reality rather abruptly when Natsu's face was so close to hers that if she moved even an inch forward she would kiss him.

The stellar mage shoved her friend away dropping hot coffee all over him.

Natsu was on the floor covered in coffee looking dumb folded at Lucy that was hiding her crimson cheeks and hoping that he couldn't hear her heartbeats that were fast and loud and were skipping beat after beat.

"Anyways, you already woke up so you should leave already. Moreover I don't even remember me telling you that you could sleep here." Lucy was putting everything she got just to avoid eye contact with the dragonslayer.

"Hey Lucy, you are acting a little strange this morning. Did something happen last night?" the sensation and the memories of earlier that were almost calming down returned once again but this time it was way stronger than before, probably because she was aware of Natsu or because his face was so close that the world stopped for a few seconds when she wondered if she should get away or get closer to him.

"Just get out already! I planned to spend some time to relax alone and you are interrupting this wonderful plan!" Lucy stood up quickly and rushed to the kitchen without looking at Natsu ( partly to hide her flushed face ) that was still on the floor trying to understand what just happened.

"Something is really wrong with you today, Lucy." Natsu was standing at the door to the bedroom ... the scene wasn't that unsightly, Natsu well toned torso and hair wet and he was wiping the coffee out of his arms.

The stellar mage could feel her face getting hotter and redder as she looked at her friend by the door.

"Don't just stand there! I already told you to leave, didn't I?" Lucy started pushing Natsu towards the direction of the exit making sure to not let him notice her redder and hotter than magma face.

"Hey Lucy ... wait ... my stuff ... my scarf!" even with all of the protest from the half naked Natsu who was clearly stronger than her, Lucy still managed to throw him out of her house, probably boosted with the power of embarrassment. 

* * *

It was already evening the stellar mage decided to go after a certain blue cat because even though she tried, Lucy didn't manage to close her eyes and fall asleep again since the happenings from her sweet tormented morning were still lingering on the corner of her mind and the possibility of Happy telling anyone something unnecessary about the events from last night was getting her even more tired.

Lucy was outside the guild and as usual the noise and laughs and screams could be heard from outside. 'Guess this is the Fairy Tail way of living each day to its fullest.'

"HELLO EVERYONE ! DID You miss my pre...sen...ce?" Lucy tried to make her shockingly awesome entrance but what was being displayed in front of her was way more shocking than any entrance she had even thought of.

Natsu kissing Lissana in front of the whole guild. 

* * *

**A/N: **Hi there! o/  
Well, not much to say but ... First FanFict about Fairy Tail, NaLu pairing. This is my second fanfict in general.  
For those who already know me from my Save the Captain! story a little message: I will NOT stop my OP FanFict, I'll just try to update both ASAP.  
Also, look forward for Chapter 2 :D this will be another on going fic


	2. Misunderstandings?

Natsu was kissing Lissana at the main stage but it wasn't any kind of kiss, it was a passionate one that Lucy didn't even thought of sharing with the guys she went out, for her kissing was something that you should do just for someone special to you just like her mother taught her and now such passionate kiss that she never thought of Natsu being able to do considering how oblivious to love she judged him to be.

Moreover the crowd that was around them was cheering and celebrating as if their own relative was dreamily getting married, which was kinda tickling Lucy off because no one has ever cheered her up when she talked about her boyfriend candidates.

Lucy sat at the corner of the bar angrily after nobody noticed her entrance but she couldn't keep an angry look when faced with the sweet smile from Mira that was working at the bar.

"Is there something bothering you?" Mirajane poured some water to her troubled friend.

"Nothing. I was just caught off guard from the scene." she gulped the glass in one go like someone dying from thirst.

"Oh my, it seems you got just at that part but no wonder. I also wouldn't want to see the person I like kissing someone else, however you don't need to worry since it was only part of the game." Mirajane poured another glass of water to her friend as she kinda explained what just happened. "They were playing The King game and #7 was ordered to kiss #3, in other words ..."

"Natsu and Lissana, right? Hmm ... so it was only part of the game? What kind of person would suggest such sadistic game?" as the blonde was drinking another glass of water she saw on the corner of her vision a crying Mirajane hiding her face.

"IT WAS YOU MIRA?! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN?" the stellar mage was trying to console her friend after her unnecessary comment while Mira was sobbing.

"They ... bored and i su...gghes...ted them ... pwlay ... a little ghaame" the white haired could barely form words and even less a full sentence with all her sobs.

"Hey Lucy. Don't make Mira cry just because you got nothing to do." a manly and overly familiar voice came from behind her and hearing such words coming out of this mouth in particular was annoying her ... even more now since it was the source of many of her problems right now.

"I really don't want to hear someone that always does what he wants and doesn't respect others privacy at all say something like this to me, Natsu." a vein popped on the her forehead and she didn't even turn to face her selfish friend.

"Come one Mira-nee. Don't be like that. Go wash your face and I'll look after the bar for you." a sweet and carry voice was also heard from behind and it was unmistakable ... it was Lisanna behind her as well.

Lucy turned around after Mirajane left to wash her face and surprising her even more than before she saw one thing that she never thought she would ... there was a slight blush on Natsu's face as well on Lisanna's.

"Good morning Lucy." Lissana greeted the blonde as she went to the other side of the bar.

"Good morning Lissana. Did you stop playing already?" there was once again an angry tone on the stellar mage's voice.

"Yeah." a single word left his mouth while he tried his best to hide his red face with his scarf.

"It was just a little game to pass the time since we were bored ." Lissana's voice was slightly nervous clearly displaying her embarrassment from the kiss.

"Hmm ... did you guys enjoyed the kiss?" unconsciously words came out of Lucy's mouth and caught both the speaker and the listeners by surprise.

'Stupid Lucy! Why did you ask such thing?!' Lucy covered her mouth when she noticed what she had just asked and surely she didn't have the slightest idea why it had left her mouth without her even thinking about it.

"We-Well, it was just part of the game Lucy, so we could do nothing about it" Lissana was as much surprised as Lucy was, she nearly dropped the plates she was washing when she heard the question.

"I liked it." Natsu's voice was low and shyly escaping his through his lips which made Lisanna blush even more though she was facing the drink shelves and they couldn't see her face but even Lucy had a slight red line on her face after her friend's comment that left the two girls alone after saying and rushed towards the fight that just broke out.

* * *

It was almost night time and Happy still didn't appear at the guild which relieved Lucy since no one would know about what happened that night but on the other hand it also frightened her a lot since it also meant that the blue cat could tell someone else that wasn't at the guild at the moment (specially a white female cat and a teen dragonslayer).

"Sigh ... I guess I should go home already." Lucy stood up from one of the tables in the guild's lounge.

"Hey Lucy! Come here for a second!" She was about to leave the guild when Erza called for her.

"Hi Erza. I didn't see you around today." the stellar mage sat across her friend that was eating one of her daily strawberry cake.

"I had to organize the things I got from our last mission. By the way, did you see Happy around here?"

"No. Actually, I've been looking for him too. Did you need anything from him?"

"Nothing important. Just because while I was looking into my luggage for an item I remembered that I asked him to take care of it since I didn't have any space left."

Lucy couldn't help but wonder how Erza couldn't fit something that the blue cat could carry inside her luggage since she always took way to many things to and from missions.

"You can just ask Lucy to get it for you Erza." the voice of the blue cat appeared from under the table they were in making Lucy scream her lungs out in surprise.

"Ooh Happy. Perfect time but what did you mean by asking Lucy to get it for me?" Erza said still not looking away from her cake

"Aye. I put your dress inside Natsu's bag because mine was already full." the cat now was sitting on the table munching his fish.

A chill ran down Lucy's spine and it definitely was related with this dress and the blue cat.

"I still don't understand ... wouldn't it be better if I just asked Natsu to bring it to me?" the red haired woman was already half way through her cake.

"Natsu slept at Lucy's place and he didn't return with his things this morning." the stellar mage froze as if her life just escaped her body.

'That's it ... I'm done for ... my life is at its end.' Lucy's spirit was about to leave her body when she heard her friend say in a non-changing tone of voice without losing track of her cake.

"Hmm ... that brings back memories. I used to sleep at his place sometimes when I returned from missions too." the ex-quipper mage was lost in thoughts of old times when she would half tort... sleep with Natsu when they were kids, the blonde sighed in relief as if a really heavy weight was taken from her shoulders.

"Aye. But Natsu would usually sleep on the floor and Erza would never sleep hugging Natsu as if he was a pillow." as words came out of Happy's little feline mouth, Erza's cake was falling from her plate and escaping her blushed and frozen and dumb folded face falling on the ground.

"Lu-chan! IS IT TRUE?! IS IT?! IS IT?!" that voice was unmistakable ... loud and sharp and it had an overly enjoyed tone.

The blonde turned to see Levy with sparkling stars where her eyes were supposed to be and an drunkard silent and mouth agape still processing what she just heard.

"So, you finally decided to make yourself clear? Nice going Lucy." Cana finally broke free from her frozen state of conscious.

"Lu-chan! You should have told me first!" Levy was sparkly happy with her friend's supposed fortune

"JUST STOP FOR A MOMENT! I DID SLEEP WITH NATSU BUT NOTHING HAPPENED BETWEEN US!" without knowing the stellar mage screamed from the bottom of her lungs which made all the guild members present stop and look her way and some other gazes (mainly male) towards Natsu.

'Now I did it. Why did I spent my whole day waiting for Happy if I would screw everything up myself.' the stellar mage gave up on every little hope that lasted on her from keeping last night's _accident _a secret from everyone.

The guild went on chaos -not much different from the usual state though- about the supposed affair coming to public.

* * *

It was almost midnight when Lucy finally got home, the people in the guild wouldn't stop asking questions about hers and Natsu's supposed romantic relationship improving and even thought she denied almost every little thing her friends asked they just kept asking more and more and to worse her situation the man in question sneaked his way out when the group ganged on the blonde.

After all the questions and affirmatives that were made a few one's stayed on the corner her mind -some because she didn't agree and others because she didn't expect that coming from her friends- and the most disturbing one was a tag that almost everyone on the guild had already marked on her even before the little accident happened ... _Natsu's Girl_.

She did wonder why she wasn't approached by anyone -Loki aside that approached her with Stellar Spirit intentions- even though there are a heck lot of men on the guild.

Apparently, the fact that she was the dragonslayer's girl was accepted by everyone after the Phantom Lord events and that they just didn't want to publicly assume it to everyone.

Lucy laid on her bed while trying to summarize and understand the things that happened in these past years since she met Natsu and the adventures she had with her new family ... and it did looked exactly like her friends thoughts, every little adventure she head on Fairy Tail was alongside with the fire mage -excluding some missions where she tried to go solo- and even on days where she would just lazy away the pink haired would appear whether to just lay down and do nothing or to cheer her up and do something together (which was rather the later option).

"How did I not notice something that everyone else did? Actually, How did they notice something that doesn't exist? I indeed spend a lot of time with him but there is just no way that we would be a couple, I mean, it's Natsu we are talking ... enough already, now I just want a good night of sleep." the stellar mage pulled the blankets over her head trying to get her to fall asleep.

'At least I cleared most of the wrong ideas the guys from the guild were having ... sigh ... the stress and the tiredness from before seems to have gotten even worse because of today. And to make matters worse, I myself screwed everything trying to stop Happy.' too many thoughts were avoid her eyes to shut and her brain to relax though not enough to keep her quiet.

She began looking at her room wondering if she had changed the places of her belongings. For some unknown reason to her, the room seemed strangely larger and her bed was cold even with an extra blanket that she uses only on winter.

It was almost dawn when she finally managed to close her eyes and fall asleep and now, after only four hours of sleep she was being awakened by a pink haired boy knocking on her window.

"Come on, Natsu! Why can't you be normal like the rest of the human beings and knock on the door?" Lucy's voice was low and had a really tired tone.

She opened her window letting her friend in that jumped across the bed.

"You seem more tired than when we got back. You better eat something to replenish your energy then go back to sleep." Natsu said while walking into her kitchen as if it was his own house.

"If I look that tired why don't you just leave and let me rest? I'm not in the mood for any adventure." the blond was already under the sheets once again.

"I just came to get my bag. Erza was bugging me to bring her dress and ..." Natsu came from the kitchen with a dish of fruits and some porridge but was caught offguard with his friend already back asleep.

"She must be really tired. Well, I'm leaving then. Have good dreams Lucy." he placed the plates on her desk and got his bag from the couch with caution not to wake her and headed to the door after closing the window he came through.

Lucy was sound asleep and for some reason she was warm and comfortable, maybe she was just to tired but she somehow felt the warmth back when her friend arrived and a little chill while she was already sleeping.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay but I got things to do aside from writing this. And for those who are waiting for my Save the Captain new chapter ... wait a few more days and I'll post it. I promise that it will be up till Sunday.


End file.
